Teammates applaud Tuch’s blade bummer
It’s called “blowing a tire” when a player loses an edge on his skate and wipes out.
But what happened to Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch late in the first period Wednesday during Game1of the Stanley Cup playoffs series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn’t a blown tire.
The entire wheel came off.
Actually, Tuch’s blade on his left skate dislodged itself from its plastic holder after he collided with Kings defenseman Drew Doughty with 1:08 left. Tuch was on the opposite side of the ice from the bench and had to crawl his way back.
“It was a little surprising, but I tried to hustle to get off the ice,” Tuch said. “I stayed on my left knee and tried to push across. Erik Haula gave me a little push.”
Tuch said his teammates didn’t give him a bad time over the skate malfunction.
“The guys liked the hustle,” he said. “We were all laughing about it.”
Perron’s status unclear
The Knights held an optional skate Thursday, and David Perron was among the six who participated.
Perron, who did not play in Game 1 and last played March 26, has been out with an upper-body injury. His status for Game 2 Friday is unclear.
Helmet entrance
Players had a new wrinkle entering the ice surface at T-mobile Arena, skating through an opening in a giant knight’s helmet.
“It was pretty cool,” goaltender Marc-andre Fleury said. “I just had to be careful not to hit anything.”
Forward Ryan Carpenter, who experienced such entrances playing in San Jose when the team came onto the ice through a shark’s mouth, liked it.
“I think it added to the excitement and the atmosphere,” Carpenter said.
Help for Humboldt
Coach Gerard Gallant wore a Knights jersey with the name “BRONCOS” on the back to his daily press briefing at City National Arena in support of the Humboldt Broncos junior team that was involved in a bus accident a week ago.
Sixteen people died and 13 others were injured when the team’s bus collided with a transport truck en route to a playoff game in Saskatchewan.
Wednesday, the Knight’s 51/49 raffle generated $100,640. Of that amount, 49 percent was earmarked for the NHL Foundation to go the victims’ families.